LET’S HOPE WE TAKE INSPIRATION AND LEARN FROM YOUR SUCCESS
KC PRADHAN
To learn that our girls competed in the AIS examinations at the national level and came out successful out of hundreds of thousands is a matter of joy. Our present Chief Secretary heads the list for Sikkim as the first from here to secure direct recruitment into the IAS followed by only a few others in the decades since, the latest breakthrough is hence of significant importance. To know that Sikkim has come of age on the educational front is very comforting. The Chief Minister’s educational scholarships for meritorious children at the primary level, so thoughtfully considered, is bound to make a considerable impact in the years to come. This is a long term investment par excellence which the people of Sikkim will realize only in the future.
When I come across bright young officers, like the 40-odd who underwent a short course in administration in Singapore, I wonder why they did not give the AIS examinations. Apprehensive perhaps that they will be slotted to some obscure posting in the country. But compete for competition’s sake and if you get a slot not of your liking, you can always opt out, but your prestige will grow manifold. You are as good as any AIS officer. Just some sincere advice.
One also remembers here the brilliance of the late Sangay Doma, who, selected in the IAS in the UT Cadre, made a mark in Arunachal Pradesh as one of the finest officers they have ever had, a service they have immortalized in Arunachal by naming the Institute she got established there as a World Bank project in her memory.
Now coming back to these bright three girls. It would be worthwhile to analyze who they are. What was their early educational schooling? The story of each of them speaks volumes of their hard work and determination for others to emulate. To know Aparajita, daughter of one of our finest forest officers who lost his life in a torrential flood that struck Pani House in Deorali some ten years back, did the State proud with her ranking of 358th. Her consistent attempts, right since 2009, and coming 768th in her second attempt and getting offered Indian Defence Accounts Service did not satisfy her. She appeared again as an in-service candidate and in her third attempt she secured a ranking good enough for IPS which she likes, it appears. Her determination and consistency speaks volumes. She had her schooling in TNA and graduated in Law.
Yangchen, with her 542nd ranking, hails from the far away village Tinkitam of Baichung Bhutia and Orchid Fairrieanum fame, has excellent educational background with her early schooling at the coveted St. Joseph’s Convent, Kalimpong, and again finishing her schooling from TNA and ultimately graduating from St. Stephens in Delhi, products from where are the policy-makers of the country, and completing her post graduation from JNU.
Then comes Tshering with her 838th ranking. She comes from Pelling with her primary education in Kyi-de-Khang, completing schooling from TNA and Masters from University in Delhi.
So it is TNA that comes in as a common factor for all three, attesting the good schooling provided there. To know we have school of such standing good enough for our youngsters to go out and compete in the national level speaks volumes and people of Sikkim at large should applaud the institution as a whole and its teachers in particular with a deep sense of gratitude. It would go good for the Government to give all impetus and support to this school so that it can continue to groom the younger generations with a sense of competitiveness and determination to plunge in this wide competitive world where brilliance rules. TNA has one of the finest campuses with 12 acres of sprawling compound and a school groomed by eminent educationists like VN Langer (he headed TNA for a good 16 long years), Madhusudhan Singh, Fantomes (father and his son) and such other eminent educationists in its formative stage of establishment. It was the vision of the Durbar as early as 1956 to establish a premier public educational institution in Sikkim to prepare youngsters for the best institutions in the world. The school could take shape only after 1966 once the TNHS was moved out to its new campus at Development Area. As Sikkim is marching ahead in all fields with commendable success, it is even more necessary that the vision behind TNA’s establishment is remembered and efforts made to raise it to such prominence public schools like Doon, Sanawar, Rishi Valley or Mayo.
But primary education is quite a different matter. It needs a set of teachers with quite different caliber. In this region, it is St. Joseph’s Convent in Kalimpong that has produced and is still producing the best brains. One can know a girl is from this premier school just by seeing the handwriting- a real calligrapher. So far, our Primary Education has received a shoddy deal. Only in recent years has there been a serious effort to improve it. The neglect of the past led to mushrooming of so-called private English Schools in every nook and corner of Sikkim. On a short drive from Reshi to Jhum via Hatidhunga we came across a dozen. So is the case in faraway Daramdin as also anywhere else in the state. How we can bring the best primary education system to Sikkim, whether based on Montessori, Kid-zee, Kindergarten or with some of the improved version like the Alice Project- an offshoot of Montessori based in Italy- in Sarnath and Bodh Gaya- is food for thought. Manjushree, the brain child of Lodey and Wendy –the well qualified and well travelled husband and wife team- with a small beginning at MG Marg and now off to Temi is the forerunner of truly best schooling Sikkim could possibly offer. It will do good to establish a Primary Education Teachers Training Institute with the best of methodology as adopted in Finland, Korea, Singapore and elsewhere which are rated among the 20 best in the world in this field. That should be our benchmark. In the process, even if we slide halfway, the job is well done.
I also strong feel that the so called English Primary Schools established by private initiative should also be brought under the fold as even students there are after all our children. Parents from the interiors like Karchi and Dhupidara have moved to Rabongla working menial jobs only so that they can give their children English School education. This is the story I heard wherever I travelled. They are of the view that English Education is the only security for the future of their children.
So, as we clamour for higher education and Universities of which we have lined up so many for reasons unknow, it is time we gave more thrust to our Pre- and Primary Education where 70% of our children are currently enrolled. This, not by pumping more money alone, but by providing the best of teachers who are temperamentally and psychologically well tuned to teach children in their formative, impressionable age and working in the knowledge that “Every child is unique and has infinite potential”. These teachers should be offered the best salary and accorded the highest respect and status as they are the persons who lay the foundation on which the future of Sikkim will be built. May the tribe of the late Hon’ble Mary Scott, Shankha Gurung, Ganga Devi Rai, Pedong Guruama (Lydia Lucksom) etc. proliferate. We remember them with a deep sense of gratitude as teachers who had love and concern for the mental makeup of every child under their care as they marched ahead in their noble mission without wavering. They had in them the essence of ‘child centric learning methodology’.
Thanks to the vision of the present Chief Minister, this blessed land of Guru Rimpoche has really become the Mecca of all religions with special emphasis on Buddhism and Hinduism at a time when the world at large is beset with materialism and consumerism – the maddening trend set by economic pundits. The inner philosophy of all religions is to imbue in every human being, a true sense of tolerance, humility with wholesome personality. This has been repeated by HH the Dalai Lama during a recent visit in clear terms at his sermon to the at large at Rabongla and to the children at Mannan Bhawan in Gangtok. While we search for such schooling based on values and ethics percolated from religious saints, Gurus and philosophers, we come across Rishi Valley based on the vision of eminent philosopher J. Krishnamurti, Vivekananda University on the philosophy propounded by Swami Vivekananda, Alice Projects as an off-shoot of Maria Montessori philosophy of child education and in operation in Sarnath and Bodh Gaya, Sai Schools based on the philosophy and preaching of Satya Sai Baba. It will augur well if we establish educational institutions based on such values and ethics to enable our future generations to give be able to reevaluate and rethink, rather unwind, the past and the present and come up with a balanced approach of a wholesome living ethic for the world order. This is the only remedy to overcome the ills currently inflicting the society.
In the same vein, it is good to understand how important it is to be Scheduled Tribe or OBC at the national level. Food for thought for all Sikkimese to be Tribals. Let the loaves continue to be divided between tribes, castes, class and non-class with all their Constitutional rights within the State, but outside the State let all Sikkimese have a common level playing field. This is possible only if all Sikkimese as clearly defined in the Financial Act are bestowed with deemed Tribal status. It is time everybody, irrespective of their differences, political or otherwise, pulls up their socks and ponders on the possibility. It is an issue where there should be no differences. Time is now. Tomorrow is too late.
[The writer is a former Chief Secretary, Sikkim]
KC PRADHAN
To learn that our girls competed in the AIS examinations at the national level and came out successful out of hundreds of thousands is a matter of joy. Our present Chief Secretary heads the list for Sikkim as the first from here to secure direct recruitment into the IAS followed by only a few others in the decades since, the latest breakthrough is hence of significant importance. To know that Sikkim has come of age on the educational front is very comforting. The Chief Minister’s educational scholarships for meritorious children at the primary level, so thoughtfully considered, is bound to make a considerable impact in the years to come. This is a long term investment par excellence which the people of Sikkim will realize only in the future.
When I come across bright young officers, like the 40-odd who underwent a short course in administration in Singapore, I wonder why they did not give the AIS examinations. Apprehensive perhaps that they will be slotted to some obscure posting in the country. But compete for competition’s sake and if you get a slot not of your liking, you can always opt out, but your prestige will grow manifold. You are as good as any AIS officer. Just some sincere advice.
One also remembers here the brilliance of the late Sangay Doma, who, selected in the IAS in the UT Cadre, made a mark in Arunachal Pradesh as one of the finest officers they have ever had, a service they have immortalized in Arunachal by naming the Institute she got established there as a World Bank project in her memory.
Now coming back to these bright three girls. It would be worthwhile to analyze who they are. What was their early educational schooling? The story of each of them speaks volumes of their hard work and determination for others to emulate. To know Aparajita, daughter of one of our finest forest officers who lost his life in a torrential flood that struck Pani House in Deorali some ten years back, did the State proud with her ranking of 358th. Her consistent attempts, right since 2009, and coming 768th in her second attempt and getting offered Indian Defence Accounts Service did not satisfy her. She appeared again as an in-service candidate and in her third attempt she secured a ranking good enough for IPS which she likes, it appears. Her determination and consistency speaks volumes. She had her schooling in TNA and graduated in Law.
Yangchen, with her 542nd ranking, hails from the far away village Tinkitam of Baichung Bhutia and Orchid Fairrieanum fame, has excellent educational background with her early schooling at the coveted St. Joseph’s Convent, Kalimpong, and again finishing her schooling from TNA and ultimately graduating from St. Stephens in Delhi, products from where are the policy-makers of the country, and completing her post graduation from JNU.
Then comes Tshering with her 838th ranking. She comes from Pelling with her primary education in Kyi-de-Khang, completing schooling from TNA and Masters from University in Delhi.
So it is TNA that comes in as a common factor for all three, attesting the good schooling provided there. To know we have school of such standing good enough for our youngsters to go out and compete in the national level speaks volumes and people of Sikkim at large should applaud the institution as a whole and its teachers in particular with a deep sense of gratitude. It would go good for the Government to give all impetus and support to this school so that it can continue to groom the younger generations with a sense of competitiveness and determination to plunge in this wide competitive world where brilliance rules. TNA has one of the finest campuses with 12 acres of sprawling compound and a school groomed by eminent educationists like VN Langer (he headed TNA for a good 16 long years), Madhusudhan Singh, Fantomes (father and his son) and such other eminent educationists in its formative stage of establishment. It was the vision of the Durbar as early as 1956 to establish a premier public educational institution in Sikkim to prepare youngsters for the best institutions in the world. The school could take shape only after 1966 once the TNHS was moved out to its new campus at Development Area. As Sikkim is marching ahead in all fields with commendable success, it is even more necessary that the vision behind TNA’s establishment is remembered and efforts made to raise it to such prominence public schools like Doon, Sanawar, Rishi Valley or Mayo.
But primary education is quite a different matter. It needs a set of teachers with quite different caliber. In this region, it is St. Joseph’s Convent in Kalimpong that has produced and is still producing the best brains. One can know a girl is from this premier school just by seeing the handwriting- a real calligrapher. So far, our Primary Education has received a shoddy deal. Only in recent years has there been a serious effort to improve it. The neglect of the past led to mushrooming of so-called private English Schools in every nook and corner of Sikkim. On a short drive from Reshi to Jhum via Hatidhunga we came across a dozen. So is the case in faraway Daramdin as also anywhere else in the state. How we can bring the best primary education system to Sikkim, whether based on Montessori, Kid-zee, Kindergarten or with some of the improved version like the Alice Project- an offshoot of Montessori based in Italy- in Sarnath and Bodh Gaya- is food for thought. Manjushree, the brain child of Lodey and Wendy –the well qualified and well travelled husband and wife team- with a small beginning at MG Marg and now off to Temi is the forerunner of truly best schooling Sikkim could possibly offer. It will do good to establish a Primary Education Teachers Training Institute with the best of methodology as adopted in Finland, Korea, Singapore and elsewhere which are rated among the 20 best in the world in this field. That should be our benchmark. In the process, even if we slide halfway, the job is well done.
I also strong feel that the so called English Primary Schools established by private initiative should also be brought under the fold as even students there are after all our children. Parents from the interiors like Karchi and Dhupidara have moved to Rabongla working menial jobs only so that they can give their children English School education. This is the story I heard wherever I travelled. They are of the view that English Education is the only security for the future of their children.
So, as we clamour for higher education and Universities of which we have lined up so many for reasons unknow, it is time we gave more thrust to our Pre- and Primary Education where 70% of our children are currently enrolled. This, not by pumping more money alone, but by providing the best of teachers who are temperamentally and psychologically well tuned to teach children in their formative, impressionable age and working in the knowledge that “Every child is unique and has infinite potential”. These teachers should be offered the best salary and accorded the highest respect and status as they are the persons who lay the foundation on which the future of Sikkim will be built. May the tribe of the late Hon’ble Mary Scott, Shankha Gurung, Ganga Devi Rai, Pedong Guruama (Lydia Lucksom) etc. proliferate. We remember them with a deep sense of gratitude as teachers who had love and concern for the mental makeup of every child under their care as they marched ahead in their noble mission without wavering. They had in them the essence of ‘child centric learning methodology’.
Thanks to the vision of the present Chief Minister, this blessed land of Guru Rimpoche has really become the Mecca of all religions with special emphasis on Buddhism and Hinduism at a time when the world at large is beset with materialism and consumerism – the maddening trend set by economic pundits. The inner philosophy of all religions is to imbue in every human being, a true sense of tolerance, humility with wholesome personality. This has been repeated by HH the Dalai Lama during a recent visit in clear terms at his sermon to the at large at Rabongla and to the children at Mannan Bhawan in Gangtok. While we search for such schooling based on values and ethics percolated from religious saints, Gurus and philosophers, we come across Rishi Valley based on the vision of eminent philosopher J. Krishnamurti, Vivekananda University on the philosophy propounded by Swami Vivekananda, Alice Projects as an off-shoot of Maria Montessori philosophy of child education and in operation in Sarnath and Bodh Gaya, Sai Schools based on the philosophy and preaching of Satya Sai Baba. It will augur well if we establish educational institutions based on such values and ethics to enable our future generations to give be able to reevaluate and rethink, rather unwind, the past and the present and come up with a balanced approach of a wholesome living ethic for the world order. This is the only remedy to overcome the ills currently inflicting the society.
In the same vein, it is good to understand how important it is to be Scheduled Tribe or OBC at the national level. Food for thought for all Sikkimese to be Tribals. Let the loaves continue to be divided between tribes, castes, class and non-class with all their Constitutional rights within the State, but outside the State let all Sikkimese have a common level playing field. This is possible only if all Sikkimese as clearly defined in the Financial Act are bestowed with deemed Tribal status. It is time everybody, irrespective of their differences, political or otherwise, pulls up their socks and ponders on the possibility. It is an issue where there should be no differences. Time is now. Tomorrow is too late.
[The writer is a former Chief Secretary, Sikkim]
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